If you want to turn there for
the message this morning, 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Let's begin reading in verse
1. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 1. Paul was here speaking about
his ministry that he had received in Christ to preach the gospel
of the grace of God. Let a man so account of us as
of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of
God. Moreover, it is required in stewards
that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small
thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not my own self,
for I know nothing by myself, for I know nothing against myself.
Yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the
Lord. Therefore judge nothing before
the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel
of the hearts. Then shall every man have praise
of God. These things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred
to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that you might learn
in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no
one of you be puffed up one against another. For who maketh thee
to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? Now you
are full. Now you are rich. You have reigned
as kings without us. And I would to God you did reign
that we also might reign with you. For I think that God hath
set forth the apostles last as it were appointed to death. For
we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to
men. We are fools for Christ's sake,
but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.
Ye are honorable, but we are despised. Even unto this present
hour, we both suffer, we hunger and thirst and are naked and
are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. And labor, working
with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we
suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat. We
are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring
of all things unto this day. I wanted to speak this morning
maybe on the subject of the stripping away of pride. The stripping
away of pride. And I think it's very telling
that the Apostle Paul had more trouble out of this church in
regards to this awful sin of pride than anybody else. After
all, these were Greeks. Greeks were proud people. Paul
had been to Athens, their own Mars Hill. That's where the great
Supreme Court of that day met. And they heard him preaching
of Jesus and the resurrection and the judgment to come. God
the Creator. And they said, we'll hear you
more of this matter. So they took him up to Mars Hill.
Brought him before the Supreme Court. And they said, ìHeís a
vain babbler.î And Paul said, ìAnd youíre too superstitious. You worship God ignorantly.î
Now, you didnít tell a Greek that he was ignorant. Of all
things, donít tell us weíre ignorant. The Jews seek after a sign, but
the Greeks seek after wisdom. They were brilliant men, but
they mocked Christ and His resurrection. And Paul left them and went 50
miles or so south, and he ran into these people here at Corinth,
that was the chief city of Greece, and they were just as bad as
those in Athens. They had this Greek culture,
they were very proud people, they loved to debate. It was
said of Athens that In any given year, they had about 300 different
large buildings that they gathered in to debate and discuss things.
And it was said of them, I thought it's very telling what was said
of them, the Atheans sought to do nothing else but to hear and
speak some new thing. They wanted to tell some new
thing. That tells us that their pride
in itself doesn't. And Paul wrote to this church,
and he had one of the favorite phrases, if you call it that,
I guess he could use. He kept telling this church at
Corinth, you're puffed up. And the word means to inflate
oneself. To blow oneself up. I was watching
a little documentary on little creatures, frogs and things like
that, and little spiders. One of the ways small creatures
have of defending themselves is intimidating. They intimidate
their adversaries, those who want to eat them. And what they
do, they'll blow themselves up. And I saw this little frog, and
he was just a little tiny thing, and his enemy was going to attack
him. And I'm telling you what, he looked like a huge animal.
He kept inflating and inflating and inflating until he distorted
himself. And they get out of trouble that
way. Paul said, you're puffed up. You're puffed up. You've
inflated yourself. You're puffed up one against
another. There is among you, he said,
jealousy, strife, division. Are you not carnal and walk as
men? But they were proud of the race. They were Greeks. And you know,
they could look back over history many years before this, but you
know at one time they ruled the world. Alexander the Great was
a Greek and he lived here in this place. And they were proud
of their heritage. Some of the most famous philosophers
in the history of this world was right here. We've read about
them. We've heard about them. They
were proud of their gifts. Paul told them in the first chapter,
you came behind in no gifts. Man, they had all the gifts of
the Spirit, and they let you know they did. They were proud
of it. Paul says here in verse 10, you are a fool. We are fools,
he said. We apostles are fools, for Christ's
sake. But you are wise, at least in
your own eyes, you are wise. We are weak, but you're strong. Just ask you. We are despised
by this world, but you're honorable. And he said in chapter 3, if
any man among you seem to be wise, let him become a fool that
he may be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this
world is foolishness with God. It's foolishness with God. Pride
is foolishness. Wisdom of this world is foolishness.
For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness,
and the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore, do not let man glory
in man. Do not glory in yourself. Do
not glory in your gifts. Glory in the Lord. Pride is one
of the most deceitful things, and it is one of the most difficult
things to subdue and keep subdued. Do you know that? Because it
is so desperately wicked. I guess of all the deceitful
sins in our hearts, pride is one of the most deceitful things.
We can be proud that we are humble. Ain't that amazing? We can be proud of our graces.
I can be proud of how much I believe. I can be proud of how much I
Love. I can be proud of how much I
read, how much I pray, how spiritual I am. Pride is a deceitful sin,
and the Apostle Paul himself wasn't even immune from this
pride. He was caught up into the third
heaven, saw these wonderful things there, heard these wonderful
things there, and he came back down to earth. And he was getting
ready to brag about it. You know how I know he was getting
ready to brag about it? Because the Lord said he was.
The Lord came to him one day and said, Paul, I've got something
for you. Oh, you've got another blessing.
Oh, I praise you. What else are you going to give
me? You've called me up to the third heaven. What else are you
going to give me? I'm going to give you a thorn
in your flesh. Oh, this hurts, Lord. Why are
you doing me this way? To keep you from getting lifted
up in pride. Lest I should be exalted among
above men. Can we get proud about our graces? Boy, we can, can't we? Pride
in the hearts. Like those little creatures puffing
ourselves up until we almost disfigure ourselves. Distorted. Isn't it amazing? that we can
get so pumped up and proud that we don't even look like Christians.
We're distorted Christians. Paul tells them in the 12th and
13th chapter of this book, he said, I want you to desire spiritual
gifts. I want you to have the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. But he said, let me show you
a better way. Let me show you a more excellent way and listen
to what he said. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and angels and have not love, I become a sounding brass
and a tinkling cymbal. And though I understand all mysteries
and have the gift of prophecies, and though I have all knowledge
and faith to remove mountains and have not love, it profits
me nothing. And here's what he said. Love
is long-suffering. Love is kind. Love is not jealous. Love doesn't brag. And love is
not puffed up. Puffed up. Love is not proud. Look here in chapter 1 what he
said. One of the reasons Paul wrote this epistle is to strip
away the pride that seemingly was cleaving to these Greeks. The Lord had converted them.
They believed the gospel. They were true children of God.
But boy, this pride. It seemed like it was a second
nature to them. All of us have it. It's just
natural to us. It's there in the heart. But
it seemed like it was worse for them than anybody else. And Paul
writes back. and gives them these scriptures
and reminds them of these things to strip away their pride. And
look here what he tells them in chapter 1, and look in verse
26. You see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and the base things, the insignificant things of the world, and things
which are despised after God chose it, yea, and things which
are nothing to bring to naught the things which are. And Paul
is saying to them, why are you even Christians to start with? You're in the body of Christ.
How did you get there to start with? God called you to it. He called you to this position. And why did He call you? Because
He had chosen you to it all along. Chose you in Christ to salvation. And who did He choose? He didn't
choose the mighty. He chose the weak. He didn't
choose the strong. He didn't choose the wise. He
didn't choose the somebodies. He chose the nobodies, the nothings. And why did He do that? Well,
look what He tells us in verse 29, that no flesh should glory
in His presence. You know, as you read the Scripture,
one of the things that it won't be long until you'll conclude
that God cannot endure to see any man or woman come before
Him with any confidence in their flesh. That's one of the things
that grieves Him more than anything else, to stand like the Pharisee
and say, God, I thank You that I'm not like other people. He
despises that, doesn't He? He is determined to put flesh
down. He is determined to humble the
flesh of man and the pride of man. Why? Because He alone is
going to be exalted. That's what salvation is about,
isn't it? And you know, isn't it very telling that we start
with election? And what does election do? But
strip away any merit, any self-will, human will, or power of man. It lays the land level. And He
says, it's not your choice, it's God's choice, and He's made that
choice. And boy, that strips away, doesn't
it, human merit and pride that no flesh should glory in His
presence. And look what He went on to say
in verse 30, But of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory
in the Lord. Boy, pride has no place in the
kingdom of God, does it? It has no place in the Christian
heart. Paul asks three questions here
in our text. My text is found here. in verse
7. And look at these three questions
quickly with me. And he asked these three questions
that they might meditate upon them and strip away at their
pride. The first one is this. Look at
it in verse 7. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Now, we'll have to be honest
about it. A saved man differs from a lost man, doesn't he?
If I come up here and I told you this morning you're here
and you're saved and you're no different than the world, I'd
be lying to you. When He says, Who maketh you
to differ? He takes for granted there is
a difference in a saved man and a lost man. A saved man is in
Christ and a lost man's not. That's a big difference, isn't
it? A saved man is a new creature. Old things have passed away and
all things are become new. It's not that way with a lost
person. He's still the same old man.
A saved man can truly say, I once was lost and now I'm found. I was blind but now I see. A
lost man can't say that. He's still dead. He's still blind. A saved man loves God. Nobody
else does. All things are working good for
the saved man. Don't the Scripture tell us that?
I know we're living in a day where everybody's quoting the
first portion of that verse. Somebody preached a message on
one of the most distorted verses in the Bible. And it was Romans
chapter 8, verse 28. All things work together for
good. And everybody stops there. But
we cannot stop there, can we? For who? Everybody? Everything's
not working good for everybody. I'll tell you that right now,
brothers and sisters. God don't have a wonderful plan for everybody's
life. He's reserved a host of people
to damnation. Has He not? That's a fearful
thing, I know. But all things work together
for good to them who love God and are the called according
to His purpose. There is a distinction. There
is a difference between the lost man and a saved man. A saved
man has a good hope through grace. A lost man is building his hopes
upon the sand. A saved man will go to heaven
when he dies. A lost man won't. Who maketh
thee to differ? God put a difference between
Egypt and Israel. He put a difference. He made
a difference. You go down to Egypt. And you look at the doorpost
of their houses, and there's a difference. Man, here's a difference. Here's a house of a Jew. How
do you know? Look at the blood around the doorpost. And you
wait till midnight and go down there and listen, and you'll
see a difference. All of those who didn't have
the blood perished in their firstborn. And those who had the blood lived.
They lived. There is a difference. Look at
Peter and Judas. They both failed, didn't they?
And what an awful fall that was. Both were bad falls. Peter denied
the Lord and Judas betrayed him. But you know something? There
was a difference in these two men. And I tell you the difference. The Lord prayed for one of them
and He didn't pray for the other. He said, Peter, I have prayed
for you that your faith fail not. And when you convert, it
strengthens your brethren. Who made the difference in them?
I bet if you asked Peter and said, Peter, is there a difference
between you and Judas? He said, yes. He fell and perished. I fell and rose again to walk
with the Lord. Why did you do that, Peter? Who
made you to differ? Did you think he would say, well,
it's something in myself. I discovered there was something
in myself that wasn't in Judas. He'd have never said that way.
Through those tear-dimmed eyes, he'd have said, Christ prayed
for me. That's why I rose again. There was a difference between
those two men. And who made the difference? And there's a difference,
brothers and sisters, in you. This morning, if you're here,
why are you here? Why are you in Christ? Why do
you have a good hope? Why do you need the Gospel? Why
can't you live without the Gospel? When you sin and fall, you repent,
your heart is broken. Why is that? The world's not
that way. Why are you that way? You're
different. Who makes you to differ? It's
obvious, isn't it? It's not you. It's God working
in you that's made you to differ. Sometimes I get to looking down
my nose at my family or some other family. Somebody really
messes up their life, and I say, man, what a sorry fella. What
a sorry man. I get to thinking that. And boy,
I get down on him. Then you know something? It comes
to my mind, I have did the same thing. And it comes to my mind,
and sometimes it seems like the Lord brings it there with a measure
of conviction, you'd be there, or even worse, if I hadn't have
saved you from it. Pride comes in. And we get judgmental
and narrow-minded towards other people. I was in Cincinnati one time,
and I will forget this. First time I'd ever been there
to a ballgame. Some folks wanted me to go to
a ballgame, a Reds ballgame with them. I'd never been in a big
city, just come up from the South. I'd never been in a city like
Cincinnati. They took me to that big ballpark, and we was coming
out walking down the sidewalk, and a whole line of winos was
lined up down the sidewalk, bumming money. I thought, man, what's
going on? I've never seen this on the Cumberland
Plateau in Jamestown, Tennessee. That'd be a shame to do this
down there. I've never forgot that, and every time I think
of it now, you know what I say? There I go, except for the grace
of God. Don't ever, don't ever stop thinking
that way. Because that's the truth. Paul
said, I am what I am by the grace of God. Why aren't you drunks
this morning? Why aren't you blasphemers? Why
aren't you still dead in your trespasses and sins? Why are
you a believer and others aren't? Why do you live and think the
way you do? There's a difference in you.
And what is it? The grace of God. That's what
it is. contribute it to anything else
but that can make. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Old Newton said I'm not what
I ought to be. I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I shall be. But
thank God I'm not what I used to be. And for that I owe the
grace of God and that only. You and I are different. We have
different gifts. We have different personalities.
Not everybody can sing specials. There's some people we do not
dare ask to sing specials. Not everybody can teach. People have different gifts,
don't they? They help in different ways. But we all have one body. We're in one body. And the Lord
has set those members in that body as it's pleasing to Him. And it would be utterly ridiculous
for the eye to get jealous of the hand. Or the hand get jealous
of the foot and start throwing rocks at it. Pride. Pride. It's an awful sin,
isn't it? It's an awful sin. There is among
you envy and strife and division. Are you not puffed up? Are you
not puffed up? That's the first question that
he asks. Who maketh you to differ? Here's the second question. Look
at it in verse 7. And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Let me quote it. a verse of Scripture,
and I think it's probably the best Scripture I can quote to
prove this morning that everything we have, we have received. Listen to John chapter 3 and
verse 27. A man can receive nothing except
it be given to him from heaven. Isn't that amazing? That's the
words of dear John the Baptist. A man can receive nothing. That means you can't produce
anything. except it be given him from heaven. That's a good
question, isn't it? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? You know our natural being is
received? It starts all the way back there
with conception in our mother's womb. Rachel got so mad at Jacob because
she couldn't get pregnant. And boy, she come in one morning,
come through the tent door, and she was bubbling mad. And she
said, If you don't give me children, I'm going to die. And Jacob got
so mad. You and your wife think, you
know, we've had a little spat, we must not even be Christian.
Man, you ought to see Jacob and Rachel. He got mad, buddy. And he said, Who do you think
I am, God? God's the one that's withholding
children from you, conception from you, not me. Who is it that gives conception?
God does. He gives natural life. We can't conceive ourselves.
We knew nothing about it, didn't we? In Him we live and move and
have our being. In Him and from Him. We have
all of our senses this morning. You hear, you see, you smell,
you speak. Where do we get all of these
senses? From Him. We can't even start the natural
life except we receive everything from Him. Well, we're Greeks. What about it? Where did you
get that? Where did you come from? You come from God. He gave you a mother. conception. We receive our spiritual life
from heaven. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life. We can't a bit more conceive
ourselves spiritually as we could physically. We have our new life from God. The Lord Jesus in John 4.10 asked
this Samaritan woman, He said, If you knew the gift of God,
And who it was that saith unto thee, Give me drink, you would
have asked of him, and he would have given you, what? Living water. And you know what she told the
Lord Jesus? She said, This well is deep and you don't have anything
to draw from. That's what He tells us about this spiritual
well. You can't draw from this well. This water has to be given
to you. How can we live? It's given us
from heaven. We receive life eternal at the
hands of a gracious life-giving Savior. I give unto them eternal life. I give unto them eternal life. I give unto them eternal life. The hand that receives this life
is an empty hand of faith. It brings nothing with it. It
simply receives this life that is given it as a gift of God. Listen to this passage. Unto
you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe on Him. The faith to believe. Shannon,
you just read it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. And he believed. And his whole
house believed. He didn't believe for his house.
Somebody said there was probably some infants there, and he believed
for the infants. No. He believed with all his house,
not for them. Where did he get that faith?
He received it. It's a gift of God. By grace
shall you say through faith, not of yourselves. It's the gift
of God. We receive it. Do we not? Repentance
is a gift of God. Listen to what Paul said to Timothy.
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God,
preadventure, will give them repentance for the acknowledging
of the truth. You saw that poor old publican
standing there in the temple, smiting up on his chest, saying,
God be merciful. God be merciful. Why was he praying
that prayer? God had granted him repentance.
He had received repentance from heaven. That's why he was broken
hearted. The sacrifices of God, of God,
are a broken heart. Who breaks the heart? I never
know of a person to break their own heart. That would be like
laying your hand down and taking a big jackhammer. I'm going to
bust my hand. You're going to bust your own
heart out? You're going to crack your own heart out? The sacrifices
of God are a broken heart. He receives it from heaven. Do
you have a new heart? Do you have a new spirit? How
did you get it? You received it. You received
it. I will give them a new heart
and a new spirit. within them. Do we have anything
but what we receive? Maybe our sin. I'd have to go
there and say, well, all that I have is what I was born with,
and that's my sin. I do have that. And I've added
to that well enough, my sin. We often talk about imputed righteousness. We often talk about that here
because we feel the necessity of it, don't we? Blessed is the
man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works. We often talk
about that's what God requires. Righteousness. That's what He's
provided in Christ. And that's what we have to justify
us and clothe the shame of our nakedness. But how does it come
to us? How do we get this imputed righteousness? Listen to what Paul said in Romans
5.17. They which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of
righteousness." I used to think you could work and get it. And the Lord stripped that away
from me. And said, you ain't going to
have this until you receive it. What do you have but what you've received?
I've received righteousness. One that justifies me. One that
God accepts me in. Imputed righteousness. Listen,
do we know anything save and live God and of Jesus Christ? If we do, we have received it
from heaven. Listen to this verse in Matthew
13, 11. The Lord told his disciples, it is given unto you to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but unto them that
are without, it is not given. Why does God open the dark mind
of one person and don't open the mind of another person. One
of the reasons he does it is to teach us that it is indeed
a gift of God. There were two thieves crucified
with Jesus Christ, one on his right hand and one on the left.
One of them believed and one of them went to heaven. Why just
one of them? Why not both of them? You think
the Lord was not teaching us there something of discriminating
grace? That it's a gift of God to have
your mind opened and for you to come to faith in Jesus Christ.
And He's teaching us there, among other things, that I give my
kingdom to whomever I please. It's mine. I don't have to give
it to anybody, but when I give it to somebody, I give it to
whoever I please, and I'm doing it to show everybody that it's
a gift. It's a gift. This is one of the
most encouraging things to me. It's just as easy for God to
give the kingdom to that thief in his dying hours as it was
to give the kingdom to the Apostle John that he loved. Just as easy. Why? It's not dependent upon
human merit or will or power. It's all received. We have received
a kingdom which cannot be moved. And how did we get it? We received
it. What do you have but what you have received? Nothing. Nothing. The Lord says four things
about us. He says, ìWithout Me you can
know nothing.î Didnít He tell us of that? ìThe natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.î The Lord Jesus said,
ìWithout Me you canít know anything.î He said, ìWithout Me you canít
do anything.î ìWithout Me you can do nothing,î He said, John
15, 5. And He said, ìWithout Me you can
receive nothing.î A man can receive nothing except it be given to
him. And he said, without me you are nothing. You are nothing. If a man thinks himself to be
something when he is nothing. I remember Donnie Bell right
here in this pulpit one time he was preaching and he got his
pen out and a little old piece of paper and he said, here is
what we are and he wrote a big old fat zero. And he said, well
maybe here is what we are and he put another zero and another
zero and another zero. He said, you can put zeros all
the way across this paper, and what does it amount to? Nothing.
But he said, put a big old wand right here. Put a big wand right
here. That's what makes it worth something,
is it not? We're worth nothing. Oh, but
with Christ, with Him and in Him, we're worth everything,
aren't we? Everything. If you don't have
Him, you're worth nothing. But if you have Him, you're everything.
You're everything. He makes the difference, doesn't
He? What do you have, but what you
have received. There's a reason those saints
in heaven fall down and cast their crowns before the throne. There's a reason they do that.
And you'll do the same thing when you get up there. First
thing you'll do is fall before the throne and you'll take off
that crown and you'll lay it right at His feet. You know what
they're saying by that? I didn't earn this. I don't merit this. I don't deserve
this. I'm giving it back, Lord, to
You who freely and graciously gave it to me." Then he'll turn around and say,
No, you've got to keep it because the gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. I'll never take it back. Hold
that and let me read you one passage. I think it's in 1 Chronicles,
a very familiar passage. 1 Chronicles 29. Before we go
to the last point, look over here, 1 Chronicles 29. I think this probably says it
better than I can. This is where David was preparing
for the building of the temple. His son Solomon was going to
build the temple. And boy, he had laid He and Israel
had laid aside so much material they couldn't even count it anymore.
Beams and copper, gold and silver and brass. And here in 1 Chronicles
29, and look in verse 10, David rose before the congregation
to thank the Lord for all that had been given. Wherefore David
blessed the Lord before all the congregation, and David said,
Blessed be Thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever
and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness,
and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.
For all that is in heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor
come of Thee and from Thee. And thou reignest over all, and
in thy hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make
great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God,
we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I,
and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort? For all things come of thee And
of thine own hand have we given thee. We've just given back what
you've given us. For we were strangers before
thee, we are strangers and sojourners, as were all our fathers. Our
days on the earth are as shadows, and there is none abiding. O
Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build
thee in an house, for thine holy name cometh of thine hand and
is all And look what He says down in
verse 18, O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob our fathers,
keep this forever, keep this thought, this attitude forever
in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and
prepare their hearts unto Thee, that they may ascribe all glory
to You for everything they have. And it will keep pride for men
in our hearts. I just about know one of the
reasons David did this, he had some guys that were rich there
in the congregation, and man, they'd give a lot of money. And
some of the poor, they didn't give near as much. And some of
those rich got to thinking, man, look what I'd give. Reckon he'll
recognize me? Old Jeremiah over here, man,
he's just, you ought to see the money. No, Jeremiah couldn't
be proud. Why? He just gave what the Lord
had given. And that's all any of us do,
isn't it? Some of you, sometimes the Lord moves upon you, you
pray, and it just goes to all our hearts. But why did you pray
like that? The Lord put the prayer in your
heart. Everything we have comes from Him. Pride is a very unreasonable
thing, is it not? It just don't make a bit of sense.
That's the last question, is this, back in our text. Verse
7. Now, if thou didst receive it,
why do you glory? Why are you so puffed up in yourself
as though you have not received it? It doesn't make any sense,
does it? As though you had something to
do with it. As though you made yourself to differ. Somebody makes the statement
and says, Boy, I'm very learned in the doctrines of the Bible.
That's good. A man ought to be learned in
the doctrines of the Bible. But I'd sure be careful. I'd
sure be careful. Because knowledge puffs up. Knowledge will have you distorted.
You won't even look like a Christian. Boy, if you need to know anything,
just ask me. Oh, you better watch it. Puff, puff. Puff, puff. Puff
the magic dragon lives by the sea of pride, doesn't he? Boy, don't come too close to
me. I know more than everybody. We can't get close to you. We're
afraid to get close to you. You're so puffed up with yourself,
you're ready to blow up. And when you blow up, you're
going to stink like everything because self stinks, doesn't
it? Why do you glory? I've never,
brothers and sisters, and I say this with all sadness, seen a
time in my Christian life where so many Christians are so willing. You made a comment about this.
You referenced this this morning. So willing and so ready to diminish
another Christian's character or diminish their influence. If you go off somewhere to talk
to Christians, it seems like the first thing they want to
do is say something negative about another Christian. Or one preacher wants to say
something negative about another preacher. That's not natural to Christians
to do that. That's just not right, is it,
to do that? For a Christian to be proud makes
no sense. Well, him to be puffed up against
a lost person is bad, but to be puffed up against another
believer is even worse. It makes no sense. Back in the old days when kings
reigned, kings had criers. And if a king was going to a
certain town or he had a message for a certain town, he'd send
his crier out to give the message. He went out to announce, the
king is coming! Thus saith the king. I have a
message from the king. Wouldn't it have been silly for
him to went out and draw attention to himself and got a little attitude
and wanted to dress up just right? He wouldn't have had his job
long, would he? His business was to announce the king. His
business was the king's message. It had nothing to do with him. Let us stay low. That's what
I tell everybody. That's what I remind myself all
the time. That's what the Scripture tells
us to do. Stay low. Humble yourself in the sight
of God. And He shall exalt you. He that
exalts himself is going to be made low. He that brings himself
down is going to be lifted up. That's the message of the Scriptures
for believers. It's better to be humble over
a sense of our sin and weakness than to be proud over our graces. And here these poor Corinthians
were. They had fallen into this puffed-upness. And they were
down on this apostle and down on his companions that were out
preaching. Finding fault with them. You're
taking money just to get rich. And you're suffering because
you just got a bad attitude about that. I just wonder how this
humbled these proud Christians when Paul wrote what he did here
in verse 9 and following. God has set forth us, the apostles,
last as it were appointed unto death. We're made a spectacle
unto the world and angels to men. Verse 11, ìEven to this
present hour we hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted, and
have no certain dwelling place. We labor, working with our own
hands. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer.
Being defamed, we entreat it. Weíre made like the filth and
offscoring of all things.î Man, they were in the trenches,
werenít they? They were in the foxholes. Because you heard the
bullets whizzing by their heads. And here are these little group
of Greeks setting in the safety of their houses with their families
and good jobs, judging those men, finding fault
with those men. Those who get lifted up in pride
and always judging other people and finding fault with them and
running their reputations down and disparaging them. I tell you the best remedy for
that, get out in the trenches. You think you can do it better?
Go do it! Have at it, man! But I tell you when you get out
there, buddy, and you see when I stick my head up, I may get
a bullet between the eyes, your whole attitude will change then. I know some folks, we just lost
a What I would thank the best theologian of our day, he was
a Presbyterian, R.C. Sparrow. Just lost him a few
weeks ago. The Lord is pleased to take him.
And some people find fault with that fellow. I don't agree with
his covenant theology. I don't baptize babies. I never
do that. But I tell you what, to throw
out the baby with the bath water is wrong. I love that dear man. I've read his books. I've heard
him preach. And how he exalted the Lord Jesus Christ. And to
sit and find thought with that man in the confines of my little
safe house. Well, he's out there in the trenches
fighting, bud. He has access to congregations
and audiences that I could never preach to. I couldn't preach
to him. I'm not smart enough. I'm not
intelligent enough. I don't have the information.
But he did, and God used him. And to find fault with a man
like that is nothing but pride. I don't know what you'd attribute
it to. It's just pride. Don't come near me. I'm holier
than thou. I know more than you do. I can
say that sitting on my recliner. Pride, it's an awful thing. Lord
give us grace to stay low, to stay low at His feet. Lord bless
this message. Thank you so much.